[Propertalk] Peter's MIL and Thomas Dorsey

[Ann Fontaine]

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/daily/personal_reflections/peters_motherinlaw_thomas_dors.php

Just think what it would’ve been like to be her. There she lay, sick  
and at risk. Almost certainly afraid. Back then, fevers were serious  
business. Even today, they are signs of danger. But Jesus came and  
took her by the hand and lifted her up. And her fever left her.

What a moving story it is. What powerful emotions those around her  
must have felt. Perhaps it stirs up something primal in us as well.  
How we long for Christ’s presence in our moments of grief and  
distress. How we long for him to take our hand and lift us up,  
whenever we find ourselves brought low.

Throughout the Scriptures, we see God doing the same. In today’s  
Psalm, we read that God lifts up the lowly but casts the wicked to the  
ground. Another proclaims that “the LORD sets the prisoners free, the  
LORD opens the eyes of the blind; the LORD lifts up those who are  
bowed down.” God is not afraid to take the side of those who have no  
one else to help them. When we find ourselves at our lowest, we can  
depend on God.

It was thus with Thomas Dorsey—not the band leader but the African  
American Gospel musician of the same name. It was a parishioner at the  
congregation I serve who first shared with me the story of how he came  
to write Precious Lord. It was shortly after the death of his beloved  
wife Nettie in childbirth and the subsequent death of their newborn  
son that Dorsey penned the words to this beloved hymn. Later, it  
became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Mahalia Jackson sang it  
at Dr. King’s funeral. The first verse goes like this:

Precious Lord, take my hand Lead me on, let me stand I am tired, I am  
weak, I am worn Through the storm, through the night Lead me on to the  
light Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home

read the rest http://tinyurl.com/c6jtoq


Ann Fontaine
Wyoming GC2009 c3

http://seashellseller.blogspot.com

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